2021 Signing Day Thread

https://twitter.com/mhopkinsjr/status/1340054351130202112
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One of the most interesting times of the year has come a bit early for the University of Washington with preferred walk-on prospects making decisions earlier than they normally would have due to the fact that many prospects have yet to play a senior football season. The Huskies added their second preferred walk-on since Signing Day on Wednesday as O'Dea (Seattle, Wa.) ATH Milton Hopkins made the decision to turn down offers from a couple of Group of Five programs to play for the local team.

"I just felt comfortable staying here and going to U-Dub," Hopkins told Dawgman.com of his decision. "They felt I could be a guy who eventually earns a scholarship and I have lots of friends and family here. Basically it came down to on-the-field development and off the field with my friends and family being able to watch me play."

The 6'5", 220 athlete chose the Huskies over offers from San Jose State and Eastern Washington.

Hopkins, who plays both ways for the Irish, said the Huskies picture him as an outside linebacker.

"I'll be coming in and playing the same position Sav'ell Smalls plays," Hopkins said. "I know him pretty well. I've played against him and we've played X-Box a few times. I feel like I can go in and learn from him and pick up some things from him and become a better player."

Hopkins said he has gotten the chance to watch the Huskies a few times this season and he's been impressed with what he's seen.

"I watched their games against Utah, Arizona and Oregon State," Hopkins noted. "It's a different feeling up there with a new head coach and the pandemic, but they have a great program and with Dylan Morris playing quarterback and (Zion Tupuola-Fetui) going off, he's the best defensive player in the country, I just wanted to be at a program like that and with the future they have."

Husky head coach Jimmy Lake mentioned the program's propensity for finding walk-ons that can eventually become starters.

"The really cool thing is, history shows that we will reward walk-ons," Lake told the media on Wednesday. "We have starters on our team right now that were former walk-ons."

In addition to Hopkins, Washington also picked up a preferred walk-on commitment from his teammate, linebacker Styles Siva-Tu’u, who announced his decision on Signing Day and they grabbed a walk-on kicker on Wednesday when Calabassas (Ca.) kicker Jarrett North signed with the team.
 
The walk-aims we suspect might be good never are and the ones that we know nothing about sometimes are.
 
Joe Tryon 2.0.

Heck of a PWOOF.
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He's good for a PWO, but that's a big stretch.
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Is it though? Raw athletes with very similar frames. Tryon's best offer until after his senior year was WSU. You saying given a few games in his senior season at DE Hopkins couldn't have gotten an offer from WSU? He already has Fresno/San Jose St/Nevada offers despite never taking a snap after his junior season and basically only ever playing QB.

I think they're very comparable.
 
The walk-aims we suspect might be good never are and the ones that we know nothing about sometimes are.
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Probably some truth to this but which walk ons have we? ever really gotten excited about? Fowler and Kinchen are the only ones I can think of and it's way too soon to say they aren't any good. Who am I forgetting that was here long enough to write off?
 
The walk-aims we suspect might be good never are and the ones that we know nothing about sometimes are.
Click to expand...

Probably some truth to this but which walk ons have we? ever really gotten excited about? Fowler and Kinchen are the only ones I can think of and it's way too soon to say they aren't any good. Who am I forgetting that was here long enough to write off?
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Miles Bryant?
 
The walk-aims we suspect might be good never are and the ones that we know nothing about sometimes are.
Click to expand...

Probably some truth to this but which walk ons have we? ever really gotten excited about? Fowler and Kinchen are the only ones I can think of and it's way too soon to say they aren't any good. Who am I forgetting that was here long enough to write off?
Click to expand...

Miles Bryant?
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I had no clue who he was before he took the field for us. I'm sure others who followed more closely were aware of him.
 
The walk-aims we suspect might be good never are and the ones that we know nothing about sometimes are.
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Since I started really paying attention to recruiting (recent relative to y'all), I've had the opposite experience. I was really excited by Ulofoshio, mostly because I thought he flew under the radar up in Alaska and was under-recruited. Didn't realize he had been at Gorman for two or three years until after he signed, but by then I was invested and not backing down from the theory that he'd be good and play. The athleticism, measureables, and film sure looked legit.

I was really excited about Myles Bryant because of the "this guy had P5 offers" angle. He was billed as stealing an extra scholarship commit and lived up to that billing.

To a lesser extent, I was excited about Ryan Bowman because he was local and the brother of a player who did earn a scholarship on the team. I didn't expect nearly the production we've seen, but I was excited for a good practice player who would help the team. He WAY exceeded my expectation, but I liked him as a pick-up.

Bronson was another one who was exciting because he was a starting college defensive lineman and that position group was thin.

I can't think of any other walk-ons I was really excited about. Did I miss any who have played/had an impact? With walk-ons, I get excited if I think of some kind of justification for why they may have been underrated. Great measureables paired with playing in the middle of nowhere and not going to camps? D1 athlete who missed the boat on signing day? Could have gone elsewhere but shits gold and pisses purple? High school injury prevented a proper evaluation? It's not an exact science, but it's been surprisingly good since Petersen was hired.

I think this year it's going to be way easier than normal for one to talk themselves into walk-on fever due to the lost high school season and all the uncertainty it created. Hell, a couple of years from now, you may see some unusual teams in the top-25 due to getting lucky with underrated recruits. Way more of a crapshoot than most years.
 
Jimmy likes to talk about his superior evaluating skills, but the Bryant example definitely is a puzzler. Credit to getting him as a PWO, but other PAC 12s were able to tell he was worth a scholarship.
 
https://twitter.com/mhopkinsjr/status/1340054351130202112
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Should have a decent chance at a scholarship since we will likely only have like 80
The walk-aims we suspect might be good never are and the ones that we know nothing about sometimes are.
Click to expand...

Probably some truth to this but which walk ons have we? ever really gotten excited about? Fowler and Kinchen are the only ones I can think of and it's way too soon to say they aren't any good. Who am I forgetting that was here long enough to write off?
Click to expand...

Miles Bryant?
Click to expand...

I had no clue who he was before he took the field for us. I'm sure others who followed more closely were aware of him.
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We recruited him hard and offered him and then we were full. Cocky sob thought so highly of himself he chose to walk on at uw rather than take a schollie at a lesser program. But many thought he was pretty good.
 
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